Savannah State football coach Earnest Wilson says he’ll be calling his team’s plays from the sidelines this season.

“It’s hard to find someone who thinks the way you do,” said the former offensive coordinator at Hampton University who took over the Tigers’ head coaching job only two months ago.

Georgia Southern coach Jeff Monken takes a different approach, relying on his offensive coordinator Brent Davis and the staff in the press box to make the right calls.

“I need to be able to manage the game, manage the staff, manage personnel,” said Monken, who begins his fourth year as head coach. “The only way I can do that is to be there and listen to what’s going on both sides of the ball.”

Monken tried calling his own plays during his first eight games as head coach, but the extra attention to offense subtracted from his time with the defense.

“I didn’t have any idea of what was going on (with the Eagles) defense until Sunday, because I was over on the sidelines (with the offensive players) making adjustments,” Monken said.

But like a chef who insists on doing the prep work before cooking the main course, Wilson wants to make sure everything is to his specifications — particularly since he’s installing a new passing offense for the Tigers.

Wilson got a bad taste of being a head coach and not being on the same page as his offensive coordinator in an indoor football league.

“After that, I vowed I would call my own plays — this way I wouldn’t be upset with someone who didn’t think the way I thought,” Wilson said.

Success at GSU

Monken can understand that logic. He was an assistant under triple-option guru Paul Johnson, who called his own plays at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

Under Johnson, GSU produced some of the most explosive offensive teams in Football Championship Subdivision history. In 1999, the Eagles averaged school records with 551.7 total yards, 419.0 rushing yards and 50.0 points a game with Johnson pushing all the buttons.

Wilson had similar success while being part of a rebuilding offense at Jackson State. The Tigers went from 113th in total offense (242.9 ypg) nationally in 2009 to 15th in total offense (412.6 ypg) the next season.

In 2011, Jackson State led the FCS in total offense, producing 490.9 yards a game.

“You do your preparations during the week and usually on game day, (the play calls) are broken down to a tee. You’ll always take suggestions from the press box, but (calling the plays) is comfortable to me,” said Wilson, who sometimes scripts some plays to start a game.

Wilson says he learned the art of play calling from Hal Mumme, who was the creator of the Air Raid offense being put in at Savannah State.

“I never saw the big picture at first when I was a head coach, but when I was able to sit back and learn (as a running backs coach at New Mexico State), Mumme showed me how to put it all together,” Wilson said.

Despite the lesson, Wilson sees a time when he’ll be handing off the play calling.

Associate head coach and offensive line coach Willard Scissum was a head coach at Morehouse College and co-offensive coordinator at Morris Brown College. Wilson’s quarterback coach Lawrence Livingston was co-offensive coordinator at Wyoming.

Wide receivers coach Chris Buckner played in the offense at New Mexico State and coached with Wilson at Jackson State.

Monken does things differently, but he won’t complain about the results. The Eagles have advanced to three FCS semifinal games with a core staff of experienced option coaches with a better vantage point than someone standing on the sidelines.

“Those guys on top have a much better idea of what’s going on from up there,” Monken said.

He says his cousin Todd Monken, a former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, will be calling his own plays this season as the head coach at Southern Mississippi. The topic of calling your own plays as a head coach might just come up at a future family gathering.

“I’ll be interested in talking to him after he gets going on how he’s doing with managing all of it,” Jeff Monken said.

SSU scrimmage

The defense shined early, but the offense came on at the end of Savannah State’s first scrimmage Saturday morning at T.A. Wright Stadium.

Senior running back Sheldon Barnes from Bradwell Institute scored on touchdown runs of 12, 11 and 8 yards as the Tigers produced nine touchdowns during the 2½-hour workout.

Former Beach star Simon Heyward caught two touchdown passes — one from Antonio Bostick of 40 yards and another from Victorian Hardison from 30 yards.

Quarterback Leon Prunty ran for an 18-yard score and passed for a 25-yard touchdown to Edward Lackey.

Overall, it was a good showing for the new passing offense Wilson is installing.

“There are still struggles with the mental part,” said Wilson, who wants his quarterbacks to be more aggressive, particularly with checking out of bad plays. “I’m saying make your mistakes now so when you get in the game you don’t make those same mistakes.”

With construction crews working in the background at Paulson Stadium, Georgia Southern went 71 plays in the morning in its first scrimmage of the preseason.

The Eagles came back in the late afternoon to work out for about another hour.

In the scrimmage, fullback William Banks scored twice. Former Savannah Christian star Nardo Govan, hoping to earn playing time at fullback, also scored along with quarterback Kevin Ellison and running back Torrance Hunt.

Hunt is a graduate student who had one year of eligibility after finishing at East Carolina.

Matt Flynn kicked a 47-yard field. Valdon Cooper had an interception and Brandon Thomas had a long punt return before punter Ryan Nowicki made a touchdown-saving tackle.